I am one of those persons directly affected by the change to districted elections in our city. I received the letter from Joe Cancimilla stating that my family is being switched to mail- in balloting because our precinct is too small for a polling place.

I don’t like it one bit.

I did a poll (albeit a non-scientific one, relegated to characterization as anecdotal, due to small sample size) on Nextdoor.com, asking for feedback on any Martizians who were affected by, and not happy with this change. 50% of respondents said they were unhappy with the change. See: https://nextdoor.com/news_feed/? post=89885615&is=channel_feed

There was a good article in the August 23 edition of the Martinez News-Gazette on “Elections department to require vote by mail in some precincts”. The article hints at the root cause being the change to by-district elections in town. This was a direct result of a lawsuit threatened by SoCal attorney Kevin Shenkman.

To recap: A Southern California attorney meddled in my town’s business, and as a result has threatened my franchise (i.e., my right to vote), by requiring me to vote by mail. I prefer to vote in person at a neighborhood polling place. Do you feel the same way??

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The Martinez News-Gazette, established in 1858, is one of the oldest continuously operating newspapers in the United States, and one of the first newspapers in California. The bi-weekly serves the county seat of Contra Costa in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can reach us at (925) 228-6400.